The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1887-10-11

some french gentleman Tor United States
senator. l hope that all the convict lease will
be warded off our next senator. l don't be-
lieve that a United States senator has any
right to deal in conyicts, so help me God.
[Applause,l
1T is against public policy. When I pro-
posed to lease the park i'll Macon, the point
was made that as mayor l could not lease it.
l replied that the man with the money would
get there Eli. LIaughter.] Attorney General
Anderson was my lawyer. But Chief Justice
Jackson read the Hazoo fraud in it. No
wonder President Brown feels tender-footed
on this subject. 1 would if L were he. Let
him turn it over TO the hands of u wicked man
like Lowe. Let the next United States sena-
tor be clean, whlte-washed ard pure"
"Iou propose to gag me- If You do, You will
insult not only myself but the people of Geor-
gia. They want to smother it that this rob
berry OF the people may so on. L protest i'll
the name of my people
"Thank God | was sent here by people
who have never bartcred away their political
birth-light for q mess of miserable convict not
tage. They are sick and tired of this thing
known as Changing democracy. And if they
are TO have any more Of that sort of govern
ment forced upon them they want it admin
istered i'll homeopathic doses, unmiNed with
State road betterments and unauthorized
with any idle promises of reform within the
ring. VIII you gag me?
"In the name of God of Justice and COM
mon sense we demand the right to be heard.
Joe Brown, i'll his speech before the high court,
attempted to impose on the people of Georgia.
lie said to forfeit the lease of companies and
would turn 1000 convicts loose My bill
does not forfeit single lease, and Joe Brown
and his cliaquers know il.
"There are those that assert that there is no
better managed camp than at Dade coal mines.
Yet the convicts died like hogs from scurvy.
Joe Brown said that the cOnyctS before the
war cost S219 per capita per annum. lie says
convicts cost him sixty cents per day per
capita
"In Connecticut 300 convicis cost to feed,
guard and work 50 cents per capita; Illinois,
1851, 48 cents: Indiana, so cents per capita;
Iowa, Ool at Al cents per capita; Maryland,
552 convicts, 50 cents per capita New Hamp-
shire, 152, ) cents New York, $50 at % cents.
1850 at 334 cents, $50 at Al Ohio, ,424 at 81
cents; Virginia, feeding and guarding, 20i
cents; United States prisoners, % cents per
capita; convictS at reformatory, 81 cents.
But to come down to convcts in Georgia,
Chatham county, 80 cents MuScogcc, IS cents;
Floyd, 40 cents; Bib, 39s; Richmond, So;
Fulton, Sc cents per capita, six counties work
ing 1856 convictS at 3S4 cents per capita.
1.-The state lunatic asylum, ] ,30S inmates, cost
per capita 344 ten states, with S,4G5 conviCts,
33I per capita. Yet Joe Brown SAYS it cost
him 60 cents per capita. Sixty cents on 81 900
will work 1850 conyicts anywhere for one
year, and cost $500
'Any man who says that the conyicts cam
not make their food, is either Il fool or n
knaye, and | believe Of the latter class. The
gentleman from Baker, and the gentleman
from Macon, will tell you so.
''Joe Brown boasts of favorable reports by
legislative committees to Dado coal mines
The one last session had champagne in one
end, whisky in the other, and free cigars all
the way. Their hotel bills were paid ut Chat
tanooga VIII any one deny it? But that
committee could not be bribed by champagne
They reported the hunks as filthy; that a
chaplain was paid 81 per Sunday to ride thir-
teen miles and preach-"poorp pay poor preach"
and it is said he believed niggers had no soul
and ought to go to hell anyhow. President
Brown says that he has seen a revival there.
The only revival there was when Fitzpatrick
with his sanded strap created a simultaneous,
homogeneous revival. laughter / wish yoll
could sec Fitzpatrick. He is daisy, with his
hair down i'll front like a parrot The COM
mittee recommended his removal. He is there
yet!
"These bosses think they are captain of the
ranch. If ! wantad n butcher to kill hogs
would send for these ducks-these caps. /
heard one of them say: I've warmed eleven
this morning. | can have twenty whipped
whenever L want
"This is national question. Tho message
of every governor from Maine to California
treats of it. In Virginia the convicts are
worked on the public roads. ] have no pet
scheme i'll view. There is no office in the gift
of the people | want 1t has no seductive
charms for mo, He who intimates it is fool ;
he who charges it is liar. Applause.
eve hear very much in regard to the sem
timent involved in this question. Sentiment
is the refinement Of public opinion, the essence
of public policy 1t comes to us first in the
crude shape OF public opinion. 1T rctncs
itself into public sentiment, and we all bow
down to it, 1t then takes on the higher form
of public policy when the courts Of our coun-
try adopt ii as the guiding ruling star Of their
action. 1t works without precedent and binds
without authority.
Sentiment! Mr. Chairman! Why. sir, the
life we live is but a sentiment, and the death
we die is not the end of it. 1t is as endless as
the universe and as boundless as eternity!
Sentiment! 1t comes with the cradle, but it
goes not out with the grave. 1t is the
HEART or THE PULPIT
and the head Of the judiciary. The constitu-
ton under which we live is but sentiment
and our laws arc but its legitimate offspring
We read it in the faces of our virtuous wives
and we kiss ii from the lips Of our precious
children.
Sentiment, Mr.. Speaker! Why, sir, it is
sentiment that brings Jefferson Davis to Geor-
gia. 1t was a sentiment that made II. f.. Lee
the living and perpetual idol of our southern
soldiery and U. S. Grant the fullest emblem of
northern chiyalry. 1t sharpened Lees sword
at Gettysburg, and it prevented Grant from
claiming it at Appomattox
1T Numbered from the summit of Sinai aud
shrouded the earth i'll sorrow at the foot of
Calvary Yes sir, it gave us a Christ before
PLATE! 1t kept the precious woman lingering
last at the cross, and it sent her first, weeping
and watching at the tomb
Sentiment, Mr.. Speaker / have thought
thousand times that but for the scene and the
sentiment Of the hour at Calvary that the
Bible would have been a farce and all religion
an imposition. Sir, hanging bleeding and suf-
feriDg between two thieves-twO cOnyicts, if
you please, Mr. Speaker-there, sir, in the
hour when mortality was passing away aud i'm
mortality was coming on; there, sir,
BETWEEN TWO POOR MISERABLE CoNy1CTs
the one reyiling and soothing other trust
ing aud believing, what do we hear? Lord,
remember thou me when thou contest to thy
kingdom" HSE
"MrSDcakcr, was there any board OF pardon
asked for then? Was there any sending for
the principal keeper Of the pcnitcntiary? No
sir But there III the very lullness Of u most
merciful sentiment. the Savior Of the world in
the wild dclirium Of his death, replied to the
poor convict This day shalt thou be with me
in paradise"
Sentiment, Mr.. Speaker! Why, sir. it gave
MS the cross, and it must give as the crown.
No sentiment no soul no soul, no cross no
cross, no crown
Mr. HauisOn-"The present lease system Is
the law Of Georgia, sustained by the supreme
court II is constitutional, valid, and binding.
| dissent from Mr.. HUFF statement Of facts az
TO the origin of the act OF 1876. Georgia never
l. q fgs f.g.